The Inevitable Elsa Dress

When you have a little girl firmly in the Disney princess stage, an Elsa dress was always an inevitability.

I'd been promising to make her one for ages and invitation to a Frozen party was just the excuse to finally get around to making it. Of course having a sewing deadline during report writing time wasn't exactly ideal, but I got it done.

I used my faithful Tinny dress by Straightgrain as the starting point. I used the Jaanu bodice as a bit a guideline and cut the Tinny bodice into the two parts.  I also added the long sleeve from the Ishi dress and used the longest circle skirt from the Tinny pattern with the size 5 at the waist. It all went together beautifully which was good as I didn't have time to make a muslin. I found this great Michael Miller fabric range called fairy frost and it was perfect for the Elsa dress.

I found this fabulous sheer fabric from Spotlight ages ago ready for the Elsa dress I would one day make. I had originally planned to sew it into the bodice and yoke seams but I wasn't sure how it was going to wash and last so instead I decided to make a separate cape. I was under strict instructions to make the cape "super long" so I used the full length of fabric and just eye-balled cutting it out without a pattern piece.  I sewed it into a detachable peter pan collar and used velcro to close the collar.  I think it's turned out to be the right decision. When she gets tired of the cape she can take it off and it's easy to put it back on.

She absolutely loves it and hasn't taken it off all weekend, even during a trip to the supermarket (without the cape that is, I'm not that patient). She's already talking about having a Belle, Moana and Rapunzel dress so I think I'm going to have my work cut out for me. At least then this dress will have a chance of being washed...

Not just one Juliette

I'm pretty excited today to be taking part in the blog tour for the new Juliette pattern, a collaboration of two of my favourite instagrammers: Sewpony and Kneesocks and Goldilocks.

I've sewn up a few Sewpony patterns now and they are always very sweet and well drafted.  This dress was no exception.  The pattern is for a dress or top, with a neck ruffle or without, so I made dresses with both.

The first was this dress in gingham with the ruffle.  I wanted to use something simple, yet classic and you can't go wrong with gingham.  I'm not usually one for ruffles or frills but I'm always keen to try new styles and this pattern looked so sweet.  I must admit I kept second guessing myself, on whether or not to add some contrast fabric or not.  In the end I kept it simple and I'm glad I did.

For the second one I made, I left off the ruffle and used the faux button placket instead.  Again I kept on second guessing whether or not to add a ruffle or change the bias ties.  In the end as you can see I used some contrast black with the long ties.

The shape of this dress is just gorgeous and it has layered nicely too.  There's also a collar upgrade Suz has just drafted so I think I'm not done with this pattern yet.

You can see more beautiful versions of this pattern by visiting the other talented makers on the Juliette Blog tour.

Suz is also running a fantastic competition on her website at the moment, be sure to check it out!!

8 May:Lily en Woody, While she was sleeping, 

Elegance + Elephants, Petrol + Mint

9 May: Giddyants, Fairies, Bubbles + Co, Sew Shelly Sew, 

Sweet Red Poppy

10 May: Bel'Etoile, Pear Berry Lane, Little Cumquat, 

Compagnie M

11 May: Coffee and Thread, Just Add Fabric, Do Guincho

12 May: Minnie Mie, Creative Needle and Threads, 

My Petite Sophie, Chalk + Notch, my cozy co